Wondering if anyone was getting extended spamming from their email via 914world?

The last three days between 0100 and 0500 numbers emails have been received through my Yahoo email account coming from www.914world.com website. The event started about three days ago and has occurred for the last three days in the aforementioned time period.

I had to take all my active computers off-line placing everything coming from my Yahoo account on spam so I could review the activity. I have eliminated/saved over 1,500 spams from the following named and coming through the 914 site:

Kenawgseok697 was the first lasting at least one complete day into the
second day; then, became fairly infrequent.

hdtr75 Started the second time frame and was every other time
varying with the Kenawgseok697s activity. It continued into
the third day varying with Asdasfchsa09.

Asdasfchsa09 Started during the second day and continues to the present.

vcdf66 Started during the third day and continues to present

The activity involves repeated messages from the above listed every one or two minutes and goes not continues maybe with a slight break. My computers ring constantly during the early morning hours.

The problem appears to be resulting from the 914world email account connections. The only tracks sent are from our club. As far as I can tell my email accounts are intact and safe.

To prevent any more of these threads getting into my active email listings, I have placed everything under spam so I can review and see what is going on. I will save these for a period of time until I get a better pattern and to see if any more names are being added to this "spamming activity".

Do we have a problem developing?

Steve

Sigh ...

It's not 914world that is spamming you

It's *YOU* who signed up to receive email notifications whenever a new thread is posted.
*WE* get a spammer in here who creates 50 new threads and in turn you get the notifications for those threads.

So, in short, don't subscribe to email notifications for busy forums, like the garage. Whenever we get a spammer, you'll get a flood of notifications.

Why? Because *you* signed up for those notifications.

For the 1st time ever I got a load of spam like notifications from the world yesterday from a barbie77

Checked to see if the email was indeed from Sir A's notification system, tick. Checked a link in the email (without clicking through), tick. Indeed a valid 914 world notification

Checked on the web after a 2nd bout of emails and yep Sir A or ANO admin had blocked the dude in question

Thank you Sir A for everything you do for this community and prompt killing of idiots like barbie77

................I'm getting spammed big-time!

No, you're not. Read my post above.


I'm really getting tired of trying to explain how the interwebs work ...

PS: I just manually deleted *ALL* subscriptions to the Garage forum.


I'm tempted to add 914 "Are you sure you want to do this?" popups to the forum subscription dialog just to really drive the point home that this is YOUR choice to get these email notifications.

Yes we appreciate all the effort to run the site. Andy has made it easy to join and post. This means everyone can easily come through the door. We just need to give Andy the usernames of the spammers so he can ban them. Basically whack a mole.

Yes I turned off the notifications, but I do check in as frequently as I can.

I admit I am not as techy as I would like to think, that became very obvious this morning when I again woke up to my phone "Blowing up". I think I now understand what happened, but at the time all I knew is all these emails that were bombarding my phone had 914 world attached to them. Had no idea signing up for certain notifications would/could cause this to happen. Thank you for the explanation. G

Turn it off for the garage, forever...

While I understand your frustration Andy,

I & others subscribe to saverl forums including the Garage forums, as a way to find new posts & then save the wanted topics as subscribed to topis.

It's much easier for those of us busy on other work & family etc. stuff to get them sent to our email so we can check them - especially for ads from guys like Mark 914sixer who get really good parts FS that go very fast!

I would suggest that a preferable approach would be to just block the offending fake members who are spamming - as I know you & admins have done with some offending real members.

914club has been dealing with this same spamming fake members problem with no luck, because they don't eject those members - so more & more come in.

IMHO if the hackers/spammers see that they're not blocked or ejected or whatever the proper IT Techie term is - then they're more likely to continue spamming & adding even more accounts.

I think that swift removal is the best path, & it saves you having to delete all posts during extended periods by those jerks.

Besides - what kind of IDIOT spammer puts a bunch of posts with Chinese - or whatever characters they were - & expects anything useful to come of it!!??

Maybe the Chinese or North Korean government & military hackers who swear they don't do that - but then they should just be shot for their own stupidity!


Thanx for trying something anyway Andy.

Cheers!
Tom
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I think that makes for a pretty useless forum & website then.

I have several other special interest websites & they all allow members to subscribe the the forums & topics, & stopping that completely makes for a far less useful website.


Tom
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Tom,
Andy has other things to do with his life.

You should volunteer to answer each and every question that he gets regarding subscriptions and the false accusation of spam coming from this site when in fact it's a self imposed spam setup by subscribing to a large open, and vulnerable, forum.

Why not just set all new users to moderated until they make 1-2 legitimate posts?

Because this too shall pass...

There's not a problem here. It takes us about 30 seconds to ban and erase a new spammer, once we notice.

I take it you just volunteered to become a forum moderator, yes?

Don't quit your day job ...



If it was that easy, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Rich, my comment was meant as a constructive suggestion.

I understand what's going on, & that it's a somewhat self-inflicted as far as the spam posts coming to our email mailboxes due to our own forum subscriptions.

....& I did read all of Andy's posts above & yours before replying ....

..... & I still think it would be less work to block an offending fake member as soon as they start doing the spamming BS ....

.... rather than having to go in over several days of the spamming activity to repeatedly delete the spam.

One step vs. many. Ergo my suggestion above to just delete them.

Cut them off before they go any further, as soon as their BS spam shows up.

BTW - the spamming is hitting ALL of the forums, including the classifieds - not just the Garage.

Ergo my point on rendering the site less useful if they are allowed to continue without blocking or removing the fake members.


Tom
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Mark,

The problem brought up by the OP is that some of these spammers have continued for several days now without anyone taking the 30 seconds to ban & erase them. I deleted a similar 100, 200, 300+ spam notification emails over the past 3 days too.

What the OP did, was to give you Admins a heads up on the exact member names so you can erase them. Don't shoot the messenger(s).

He & the others should be thanked for giving you Admins to work your magic in 30 seconds.

Please do so.

TIA
Tom
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Thanx for the career advice pal!

If not easy, then what is Mark saying about the 30 seconds to erase them??


Tom
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And that is exactly what were are doing!

What you're missing is that every one of us is a volunteer doing this on their *free* time while attending a real day job.

In order for this to work you would need to have 24/7 admin coverage of the forum.

And since i don't see you volunteering for that job, i'm afraid that won't happen any time soon ...

Because one of the admins actually has to be online and reading the board in order to delete spam.

Exactly what part of "volunteer" do you not understand?

4 offenders in OP post, a couple more added by other members x 30 seconds each - by my rudimentary math that's 3 minutes.

So my guess is from your comment Andy, that it's more than a 30 second job!

PS Andy - it sounds like you're talking about deleting spam posts, whereas I & Mark/Mike914 were talking about erasing the fake members who spam - in whatever time it is.

Of course that means after one of you Admins "with the power" gets online & sees the spam, then perhaps erase the member first to stop the flow of messages.

With my Earthlink Webmail I can block a specific address & it stops further spam immediately, but what's already there still has to be deleted as spam messages.

I assume it's similar with this website - but no, I'm not an IT person - so I don't know exactly what you Admins have to do.

Just don't bite the heads off of the OP & other folks on here who are trying to bring you the info & screen names to HELP you do so.

And even IF we unsubscribe from ALL forums, then there would both be a further delay from somebody seeing the spam posts to let you Admins know, & there would still be a ton of BS posts to plow through on the forums.

I mean really guys - we're just trying to help!!


Tom
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No, Mark is correct ...

When an admin is online AND aware that there is a problem, it only takes 30 seconds to take care of a spammer.

However, those two prerequisites rarely align perfectly with a spammer posting on the forums.

Okay, understood.

Just keep in mind we're trying to help you & the Admins by alerting you & giving you the member info to delete the spammers.

How would you prefer us to get the info to you? By PM or email or post in which Forum?

I'm happy to collect the screen names & get them to whomever by whichever method you choose.

BTW - I think barbi77 was the full screen name o the other spammer that someone mentioned above.

& PS - cdfcfd58 - is active in the Garage at 6-7 pm now as we were posting here, & may have read our posts - since he now includes in English "914s Rule!" thinking that will save his membership! Putz!


Tom
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I have offered in the Past & been found not worthy, I guess!

You have? To whom?

I don't recall anyone letting me know you had offered to be a moderator ...

Don't know if this would work, or is even doable but what if we were able to simply supply a link in the body of the email update on a topic sort of like a Unsubscribe only it would have the affect of notifying any of the administrators/moderators that there is a spammer or other problem.

should have typed what if admin was able, versus "we"

I think they have something like that on either RennList, PCA or the Airstream forums that I go on. It's a button on the post itself that reports it as spam, so therse would be reported at the OP - if 914world had that.
But IIRC Andy has said in the past that the setup for this forum is an old version with limited capabilities - so that feature may not be possible.

Andy would have to answer that.

I can go find the web forum with that feature if it's of interest to you Andy - just let me know by PM to find it for you.


Tom
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Thanks, Andy, for letting me know what caused the spamming. I did not take it as 914world doing the spamming but instead of something I may have done without any knowledge or understanding. I did not mean for this to become a fairly hot discussion but instead we need to understand what we need to do to support the moderators and especially Sir Andy endeavors in making this the best website.

Andy, as I understand it I had selected to receive all new emails going through the 914world website; this should not have been done; this option has thus been eliminated; to see all the new threads on the site, go to the site and actually select what you want to read; make your selections accordingly by actually using the website as the selection point. Is this in a nutshell?

What can I do as a member to prevent problems such as this one is the next question. I think there may be considerable things we can do to make Andy's job easier such as a better understanding on the different options in handling our important information on the 914s. I have been a member of this forum since Jan 2002 (actually 914 prior group which 914world was derived from). I do know what Andy goes through just in handling this website and also holding down a full-time business in the computer/software industry.

Thanks, Andy, for the the insight into the problem I got myself into which was not coming from actual 914world spamming but only as a conduit based on something I had selected. Just the need to get a little more knowledge and sometimes this comes by having to experience the problems. Anything more I need to know? A lot more and thus we need to understand and support our monitors in their activities.

I may not participate very much in the actual threads but I do enjoy keeping formed from all the experiences our members have (both old timers and new members). As Bob Hope use to say, "Thanks for the memories . . . ."

Steve Hurt

Well if you need a moderator in the Euro timezone I'd be willing to help out.

I'd also be willing to be a moderator. I have time available to help however needed

I still fail to see a problem. It's like complaining when a cloud passes on an otherwise sunny day.

We'll whack spammers for awhile, they'll get tired of it, and we'll go back to normal.

We're just in the point when the cloud is still passing.

Man, you'd think some of these people are experiencing forum spam for the first time in their lives...

<waving> to be a volunteer spammer sniper as needed. Experience with VBulletin but I'm guessing this isn't a whole lot different...

GA, remembering fondly the first bits of "unsolicited commercial email" (before it was "spam") from the early 80s, I think? And the ruckus caused by USENET spammers was precious...like they had broken some unknown Code of Internet Ethics or something....

In my case you are correct. I have never had this type of thing happen before coming to the world. In this age of indenity theft, ransom ware, Trojan horses and all the other viruses out there you cannot blame us non techies for being concerned.

I want to add to this comment.

Yesterday, I got to work at 5am central time. I was there that early because we had to move some equipment to a co-location site that is 1.5 hours away. So we wanted to leave before rush hour traffic.

I beat my partner to the office, so I logged into World to check what was going on. I saw hundreds of the spam messages. So I got the user name and IP, and immediately removed the user and all of the posts made by that user, checked the IP and found 2 more users from that same IP, removed those two users and their posts, and blocked the IP address. This took all of 10 minutes.

I didn't have any more time to follow up, as we left the office 5 minutes after that.


Most of the posts you guys saw in the garage arrived after I cleaned that block of them up.

Seriously, we really do try to kill stuff like this before it gets really bad, but we all have full time jobs to attend to. So next time have some faith that we will fix it as quickly as possible.

I've run the forums at amphicar770.com for many years. I too would be glad to help out.

Beyond plugins to carpet have spammers, some of which work really well, I would suggest setting all new users to moderated. Once they post 1-2 legit messages you set them to unmoderated. If they post spam it is never seen. You then delete / block the id and the IP address.

Andy / McMark I've got a 6 pack of something special awaiting you at WCR this year. Thanks for what you do, I'm just happy we have you guys doing what you are doing here. It's sometimes a thankless job.

Clay & Andy & whomever else -

shasha99 is/was active in the Parts classifieds right now FYI.

As I said above - I'm keeping my forum subscriptions (at least for now) & am happy to email, PM or post them to whomever you chose.

Note - that is volunteering!
.... TC & Amphi770 (??) & a few others are offering to help with this too.

I'm also happy to actually delete these people as Clay did, but someone will have to send me written instructions on how to do so (my half-zymers does kick in from time to time ), & do whatever to authorize my doing so.

So now Andy, you have at least 2 on this post alone who have offered to help in some way .... & that's just so far. I'm sure if you put out a thread asking for help, others will come forward.

PS - the 3rd offer from falcor in the Euro timezone is a good idea, since these seem to come in at daytime on the opposite side of the world from the USA, & stevegm was the 4th offer to help moderate or whatever.

BTW - I can also help out Pat Garvey with O&H Mod. - if he wants help (don't want to step on any toes).


Tom
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I just looked... shasha99 has not made any posts yet. So I am hesitant to shut them down. If you see them posting spam, let us know and one of us will kill their account and delete the posts.

Just saw the spam by shasha99 and killed them.

I logged on, noticed all of the spam posts, scrolled past them, took another sip of my Trenta green ice tea and looked at what I was interested in. Secure in the knowledge that the bugs would get squashed as soon as one of the admins noticed it.

Chill...

So, instead of dealing with spammers for a few days once every 2 years, you suggest that we manually moderate each and every new members posts at all times?

How exactly is that making things easier for the admins?

I'm amused by the beleaguered comments of posters who are temporarily inconvenienced by internet foibles. Talk about first world problems!

Thank you Andy...and Admins...you're aces in my book.

BTW, do you know how long it took me to scroll down to find that thumbsup smiley? I must have wasted thirty seconds. I'll volunteer to rearrange the entire smiley library; just tell me when to start.

Guys ,I get 50 spam emails a day all year long. My business is well presented on the web and spam is just part of life these days. I have been surprised how little spam I have seen here. A board run by volunteers can't be water tide and easy for the users at the same time. Admins keep up the good work , I appreciate it

Thanx Mark!

Clay, Mark may have got them before or as you looked.

I'll give a heads-up on here whenever I see them, until told to PM or email or get empowered myself, or whatever.

Maybe others can also just post a heads-up for the Admins' benefit, & stop the bickering posts, which don't help & only waste space.

I know, I know ..... fine coming from the king of TMI!!!!

Until then, it's a bit like the Wizard oi OZ behind the curtains running everything, where we "garden variety members" have no idea what's going on behind the scenes! ....


Tom
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Ed, by the same token, I doubt that many of us would tolerate a car which wouldn't run on all cylinders or in one of the gears, so the frustration is understandable.

I too have been in business for 33+ years, & deal with the 100+ spam messages per day, but it's just better IMHO to quash it asap.

.... or as Barney Fife would say: "Anj, ya gotta just nip it in the bud ... nip it in the bud!"


Tom
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Thanks, Guys, for a quick response and your feedback did definitely give me information on how to handle this type of situation. I did not know my ports were open to spam until this happened; have adjusted my inquiries and automatic setups to where I am exposed at a minimum level.

There is always new learning curves and experiences.

Thanks for the support from all the admins who are doing a great job!

Steve

Zackly. I hate when sites require a moderator to approve a first post. Several times I have joined misc. forums because I have a one-time question I want to to post in some specific area. Then, I am stuck making multiple posts and waiting for mod approval, just so I can get an answer.